Mississippi School of the Arts Visual Arts students recently received 135 awards in the prestigious Regional Scholastic Art Competition hosted by The Mississippi Museum of Art, including two of the five American Visions Awards given that represent “Best In Show.”

Elizabeth Smith, a senior from Brookhaven, won one Gold Key, four Silver Keys and two Honorable Mentions.

The work of the talented young artists receiving American Visions and Gold and Silver Keys will be on display at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson until March 20 as part of the exhibition for the Scholastic Art Awards Competition.

MMA hosts the Mississippi Regional Competition each year. Students from middle, junior high, and senior high schools from across the state participate in the competition. More than 1,200 entries in a wide variety of categories, were judged by a panel of judges over a course of several days. They look for works that exemplify the Awards’ core values: originality, technical skill, and the emergence of personal voice or vision. Those works awarded American Visions and Gold Keys advance to the national competition.

MSA is an 11th and 12th grade visual and performing arts residential, public high school located on the historic Whitworth College campus in Brookhaven. Students not only meet and exceed the traditional Mississippi high school curriculum, they receive special instruction in visual arts, vocal music, dance, literary arts, filmmaking/media arts and theatre.  Students interested in MSA apply their sophomore year. In addition to MSA students consistently winning awards for their work on the state, regional and national levels, the school holds the No. 2 highest ACT average in the state.

Tenth graders are encouraged to contact the admissions office to inquire about auditions. For more information, visit www.msabrookhaven.org or call 601-8232-1300.